LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



Division of Forestry, 

 Washington, D. C, November 1, 1897.- 



Sir: I have tlie honor to submit herewith for publication a revised and enlarged edition of a 

 series of luonograplis on the live pines of economic importance in the Southern L'nited States, a 

 result of many years' study by Dr. Charles Molir, the well-known authority on the botany of the 

 Southern States, and agent of the Division of Forestry. 



The first draft of these monographs was prepared several years ago, but it was then found 

 that in order to make them fully satisfactory and useful to the practitioner much additional infor- 

 mation was needed, especially regarding the rate of growth and other sylvicultural as well as 

 technological questions. This information has been gradually accumulated as our facilities have 

 permitted. The extended investigations carried on in this division may be considered quite 

 exhaustive, at least in regard to the mechanical properties of the wood of the.se pines. An 

 interesting chapter on the wood structure by Mr. Filibert Eotli has been added, and a compar- 

 ative study of the economic, sylvicultural, and technical characteristics and value of the pine.s 

 under consideration— a resume, as it were, of the contents of the monographs— is to be found in 

 the introduction by the writer. 



Advantage has been taken of the opportunity afforded by a call for a second edition to 

 carefully revise the text of the monographs and record in additional notes results of new investi- 

 gations. 



During the early summer of 1897, Mr. Filibert Eoth made an exhaustive study of several 

 localities in the territory of the Southern Pines, and his observations, so far as they supplement 

 the excellent \^ork of Dr. Mohi-, are embodied in brief notes at the end of each monograph. Mr. 

 Eoth has also contributed a short sketch of the Pond Pine, which was found to be of greater 

 economic importance than had been known. 



The cordial reception which was accorded this bulletin, and the large demand which has 

 made this second edition necessary, are a source of great gratification to those interested in its 

 preparation, and show an increasing appreciation of the great economic value of our forest 

 resources on the part of the public. 



The pineries of the South furnish now, or will in the near future, the most important staples 

 of our lumber industry. According as they are treated, carefully or wastefuUy, they will continue 

 for a longer or shorter time to be a wealth-producing resource of the South. To aid in securing a 

 true conception of the extent, condition, and value of this resource, and of the nature, development, 

 and characteristics (botanical, sylvicultural. and technological) of these pines, these monographs 

 have been written, with the hope of inducing rational forestry methods in their use and reproduction. 

 Respectfully, 



B. E. Fernow, 

 Chief of Division, 



Hon. James Wilson, 



Secretiiry of Ayricidlure. 



